Task 4c: Developing my Questions with my Professional Community

Yesterday, I discussed my questions with the Head of Dance (HoD) at my Academy. I outlined that I was struggling to decide which questions would be viable lines of inquiry; I also took this as an opportunity to share some of the research I have undertaken into planning an inquiry, so I could express my concerns from my previous posts about the idea of ‘time’ and ‘good will’ (Task 4a: Developing Questions that are Relevant to my Practices and Task 4a: Developing Thoughts). 

First, we discussed the question, ‘Do students approach and undertake tasks differently if they are in control of their learning outcomes?’ She believed that this question was a difficult one to answer. We discussed how she ensures students meets the learning outcomes via the lesson criteria on the board and RAG (red, amber, green grouping) differentiation method. She also discussed how student know that they can always ‘move up the ladder’ to meet higher criteria and the RAG groups are not ‘set in stone’. She also calls the groupings ruby, gold and emerald to ensure that students are not discouraged when they are ‘red’. However, she uses this method as she gets to know the group and their abilities. This conversation made me realise that I did not have a clear purpose (Denscombe, 2010) in mind with this question; I wasn’t really sure what I was hoping to achieve from this research and it definitely was not a skill (Raelin, 2008) I need in the future.

One question that the Head of Dance was really interested in was, ‘How does participation in extra curricular Performing arts effect engagement in timetabled lessons? Is this positive or negative?’ She explained to me that one of her students had missed a rehearsal for the school musical last week and today, during their timetabled lesson, another student took the beginning of the lesson to teach the student what they had missed without prompting. We also discussed the impact that extra curricular involvement has inside her lessons, as many of the students involved with extra curricular, particularly with year 7 students, are always talking to her about parts of their day or things that they have done. This then has a positive impact in lessons, as they are more willing to engage and learn. We then shared our views that professional relationships with students really are fundamental to good lessons, whether they are built from extra curricular or timetabled lessons.

From this point, we looked back at the set of ten questions and found that the following questions at had a link: engagement.

• How does participation in extra curricular Performing arts effect engagement in timetabled lessons? Is this positive or negative?
• What are the factors that contribute to positive engagement for students?
• Do positive male role models within a school (students/staff) effect the level of participation and involvement of male students in timetabled classes?
• Can positive professional relationships in Performing arts be used to improve attitude, engagement and enjoyment of English and Literacy classes? 

This was a moment of realisation for me. The above questions are all linked to positive engagement. We discussed that this really was key in getting the students to learn, and how I will need this in the future and for my professional development. It is clear from this that this question, ‘What are the factors that contribute to positive engagement for students?’ is a viable line of inquiry. Furthermore, I expressed my concerns about the need for lots of ‘good will’ given by herself to help me with this inquiry (through observation, questionnaires, taking time out of her extra curricular to talk to students) would stop me from carrying this out. She said that she was very much on board with what I was trying to achieve through this course and inquiry and that she would be happy to help me with any time or resources that I needed.

Upon reflection, although this would be a good line of inquiry for me, as it addresses the idea of causes and consequences, has a clear purpose and falls under the relevance of personal agenda (Denscombe, 2010), I don’t feel it would meet my desire to use my combined role in English and Performing arts to contribute to my organisation as a whole.

I now feel I need to do two things:

• Go back to my original questions and consider how they could be altered and adapted to fit my ideal approach of using my combined role, whilst still using addressing the idea of engagement, which I clearly feel is a good line of inquiry.
• Discuss these altered questions with my other colleagues (particularly those not in the Performing Arts Department) to develop these questions further - the more ideas I collate from a diverse range of more experience practitioners the more likely I am o find a line of inquiry that is appropriate and well though out.

Reference List

Denscombe, M. (2010) Ground Rule for Social Research - Guidelines for Good Practice 2nd Edition. New York: Open University Press

Raelin, Joseph A. (2008) Bridging Knowledge and Action in the Workplace Work- Based Learning, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.